Laurence Hastings lord Hastings and Aburga|uennie, was also afterward earle of Penbroke, he was borne about the thirtéenth yeare of Edward the second, being also about the yeare of our redemption 1320: which is proued by this, that the said Laurence was fiue yeares old at the death of his father, which (as before is said) happened in the yeare 1325, and in the eightéenth of Edward the second, at what time he was seized as the kings ward, and committed to the gouernement of tutors, appointed him by the said Edward the second. This Laurence Hastings for the nobilitie of his race, the actiuitie of him selfe, the largenesse of his possessions, and his familiaritie with the king, was created earle of Penbroke, a|bout the one and thirtith yeare of the reigne of king Edward the third. He maried Anne or Agnes the third daughter of sir Roger Mortimer the first earle of March, by whom he had issue Iohn Hastings.

Iohn Hastings earle of Penbroke lord Hastings Aburgauennie and Weifford in Ireland, the sonne of Laurence Hastings the first earle of Penbroke of that name, did in the fortie one yeare of Edward the third, being about the yeare of our Lord 1369, infeoffe diuerse persons of the manor of Lidgate in Suffolke, of which towne was Iohn Lidgate the monke of Berie and famous poet of England sur|named. After which in the fortie six yeare of Edward the third, and in the yeare of our Lord 1371, when the Frenchmen besieged Rochell, he was sent with an armie of men to the rescue of the same. But being set vpon by the Spanish nauie in the hauen of Ro|chell, they slue and tooke manie of the English, burnt their nauie, and caried the earle with sundrie other prisoners into Spaine; where this earle a long time remained prisoner. Which misfortune was iustlie supposed to haue fallen vpon him, because he was a man of euill life, giuen greatlie to lecherie, an infrin|ger of the liberties of the church, and a persuader of the king that he should (for his warres) more grie|uouslie exact manie subsidies and contributions vpon the clergie than vpon the laitie. After that he had béene long prisoner in Spaine (by the space almost of thrée yeares) he was ransomed for a grreat summe of monie, by Bertram Cleikine, and died (as I con|iecture by some sufficient proofe) betwéene Paris and Calis, as he came into England, in the fortie ninth yeare of Edward the third, in the yeare of our Lord 1374: so that he neuer fullie paied his ransome. He had two wiues, Margaret the daughter of Edward the third, & Anne the daughter of sir Walter Mannie and of Margaret Segraue made dutchesse of North|folke in the time of Richard the second: but when he maried these wiues, I can not certeinlie find. And in the earle of Kents booke (which treateth of the contention of the Hastings and the Greies, for bea|ring of the armes of Hastings) there is no mention made (as farre as my memorie serueth) of the said Margaret; the reason whereof I suppose to be, for that this Iohn Hastings had no issue by hir: and that booke onelie serued to conueie a lineall descent from the Hastings to intitle the Greies. This Iohn Ha|stings had by his second wife (Anne) a sonne called Iohn Hastings, which after succéeded his father in all his inheritances.

But before I saie anie more of the Hastings, I thinke it not amisse to giue some warning of an error in Polydor of Vrbin, writing that Anne the coun|tesse of Penbroke (wife to this man, for none of the earles of Penbrokes had anie wife so named with|in the compasse of years wherein Polydor appointeth this time) descended of a noble house of S. Paule in France, a woman of great vertue, and a louer of learning and of learned men, founded a house in Cambridge, to this daie called Penbroke hall: which in truth was not builded by hir, but by Marie the wife of Odomare or Aimer de Ualence earle of Penbroke, who was slaine at tilt in the one & twentie yeare of Edward the third, in the yeare of our Lord 1374: which was thirtie seauen yeares before the death of this Iohn Hastings earle of Penbroke: which Marie was in verie déede the daughter of Guie earle of S. Paule, the kinswoman of Edward the third, and a French woman. This woman being in one daie (& that the daie of hir mariage) a maid, a wife, & a widow (hir husband being that day slaine at tilt) did in hir widowhood (in the one & twentith yeare of Edward the 3, in the yeare of our Lord 1374) erect that house in Cambridge vpon hir owne ground, and appointed the same to be called the hall of Marie Ua|lence, or Penbroke hall; by meanes whereof it was long after called Aula Valentiae Mariae.